America's top judicial body will review lawsuit challenging birthright citizenship.

The US Supreme Court has agreed to take on a landmark case that challenges a historic guarantee: birthright citizenship for people born in the United States.

On the inaugural day in office this winter, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aiming to terminate birthright citizenship, but the action was subsequently blocked by the judiciary after legal challenges were brought forward.

The Supreme Court's eventual judgment will either affirm citizenship rights for the offspring of foreign nationals who are in the US undocumented or on temporary visas, or it will nullify them entirely.

Next, the court will schedule a date to hear oral arguments between the federal government and the suing parties, which comprise immigrant parents and their infants.

The Legal Foundation

For nearly 160 years, the Constitutional amendment has enshrined the principle that anyone born in the nation is a citizen, with certain exclusions for children born to foreign diplomats and personnel of invading forces.

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."

The contested directive sought to deny citizenship to the children of people who are either in the US in violation of immigration law or are in the country on short-term status.

The United States belongs to a group of about 30 countries – largely in the Americas – that grant instant citizenship to anyone born within their borders.